Three Things I Learned in Film School

1. Watch powerful, heart wrenching documentaries that make you thankful for being alive.

2. Be thankful for new TV shows to fall in love with. And don't be ashamed to love a TV show.

3. Never, I repeat, NEVER take life (or movies) too seriously. Thanks for that lesson, Joss Whedon.

You can take the girl out of film school, but you can't take the film school out of the girl. It's no secret that I love movies and TV. I think they are such a crucial part of our society, in so many incredible ways. Whether it means seeing a story that isn't easy to see, or losing yourself in a world created by a 30 minute TV show, or just plain taking 2.5 hours to have a good time and laugh/scream/yell in a big dark theater with a bunch of strangers. It's valuable and it's meaningful. It is also a productivity sucker and escape-mobile, but if we balance it all out, we'll gain so much from the magic that is media. 

If you don't know, I have my BFA in film production, my AA in creative screenwriting, and I taught media art and film production for several years, while in college and there after. Mostly to angsty middle schoolers, the best breed of child. I plan on writing more about it on the space, so if there is anything you want to read/see let me know. I guess that means time for more vloooogs, dontcha think? So this is my introduction to a new minor-focus on this space. I don't review movies or shows, I don't think anyone really wants to know why I thing. But I do want to share more of the things I love, and media-related content. 

xo,

Beca

Movie Mania

There are so many incredible movies in the theater right now and coming up. I just want to go to the movies every night right now, BUT we are on a serious budget, so spending $24 for a movie needs to be a special occasion! ;) I think we'll make a special occasion for "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" though because that movie looks so scary, and I am a sucker for a good scary movie!

Here are some of my favorites coming out or already in the theaters.

Be sure to share some of your favorites with me, I am always looking for good movie suggestions!

xo,

Beca

A Peek into our Home/Studio

We had a busy but fun day today. I did a lot of cleaning and Doug worked in the studio all morning, after pancakes. Then we ran to the post office and then went to see Super 8. Holy cow, what an incredible movie. We saw it at the imax, and it was an experience. I forgot I was even at the movies, I felt like I was there, in the middle of it all. I love seeing movies like that! Anyways, I snapped a few photos of our little home studio while I was cleaning today.

I won't even tell you how much veneer we have collected. I can't wait to see some of it on glasses, the grains are all so beautiful!

We feel so err, blessed, lucky, happy, overjoyed, thankful, that everyone seems to be so happy with the sunglasses and we really are working around the clock (except I'm not when I'm not at work, or when we're sleeping) to get them out as fast as possible so we can add new styles to the shop.

Also, I am working on a blog make-over, and we are updating the photos of the glasses. Slowly but surely. So be on the lookout for better quality photos and some changes around here. I'm learning!

I am going to get back to sewing, which I will show you what we decided on doing for sunglasses bags. So fun! Think vintage cloth napkins.

xo,

Beca

Story of my Life...er...Day.

I am going to preface this with the mandatory, I'm sorry I am not a positive and happy blogger lately, or all the time, but this blog is all about my life, which has both bad days and good days. Please read on to see the good in it..because there is good.

Today was another horrible, crappy day. It's like everything just building up and the stress just keeps getting worse. The beautiful cake I worked on for hours yesterday, the 10 layer baby birthday cake. Well, it was impeccable when it left my arms into the customers pick-up truck. I cringed and had a sinking feeling when they drove away to travel 20 minutes on the freeway in 85 degree weather. How could I not have a sinking feeling...of course, we got a phone call later. The cake fell apart. Well, no shit dude, the cake fell apart because you wanted to be cheap and pick it up yourself instead of letting us deliver it. You put it in a pickup truck in the sun and took it to an outdoor barbecue. A ten layer cake that had a buttercream frosting. Not fondant. Specifically not fondant. I can't help what happens to something I put my heart and soul into when the customer decides to make decisions that I wouldn't choose to make. I can tell you that I was absolutely devastated and called Doug crying my eyes out. It didn't matter, there was nothing I could have done differently. Absolutely nothing. But it still makes me really sad and I totally questioned my abilities, for a hot, hot second.

RIP, Piggie cake. You were adorable while in my life.

I would have rather you been eaten and enjoyed than fall apart.

At least my boss knows that it was not my fault. He watched me build up that cake. It has three dowels in it (it was TEN LAYERS!) and he felt the buttercream crust before we handed it off. Hard as a rock, ready to soften naturally to be eaten.

Has anyone else had any cake disasters? Or work related disasters that haunt them?

It also didn't help my day that somebody set the oven to 400 while I was baking 14 loaves of Honeycake for Passover. I caught it too late for them to be saved and had to ditch the whole batch. SO then I started over, made a half batch, and half of them fell. I read this though, about how delicate honeycake is and how it is prone to falling, and felt a lot better. It tasted delicious which was awesome. (Plus, if I flip the cake over, it looks perfect and you can't see where it fell!) I also made these pretty lemon raspberry cupcakes today.

On a brighter note, we've been working on a new project. It is a Wenge wood thin bangle. We're actually making them out of a bunch of different wood, but I only had enough light to take photos of this one. I am pretty in love with them. I would wear 100 at one time. That's me though. I love bracelets!

(My wrist looks totally deformed in that second photo, though. What's up with that?)

We also went to see Insidious tonight. And even though my pal Ainsley gave it very poor reviews via her Twitter, we loved it! It was a total throw back to 1970s occult-cult films with some Japanese styling and pacing, and some modern influence. I was especially taken with the title. It was very Rosemary Baby-esque, or Hell House. Or kind of Norwegian black metal.

The movie definitely had some slow moments, but Japanese Horror inspired pacing usually does. It is supposed to create suspense, but for most American audiences, it's just too slow and culturally doesn't have the same effect. I also appreciated the childlike view on demons and ghosts. It was very much through the eyes of the kid the films story revolved around. I could write for hours about movies, but I won't bore you.

We have plans to go to Santee for the swap meet tomorrow morning so I'm off to bed. I'm glad I have a little corner of the world to spill my guts. Thanks, friends! Tomorrow will be better! Especially since it's my day off!!!

xo,

Bec

True Grit - Movie Review

Doug and I have been looking forward to seeing this Coen Brothers version of True Grit since we first saw the preview months and months ago. We love pretty much every movie these dudes have made, and this was no exception. If you don't know anything about it, the movie is based off the 1968 book by Charles Portis. The book is about a 14 year old girl named Mattie Ross who's father was killed by a drifter and she is out to avenger her fathers death by bringing the man back to hang for his deeds. She hires Rooster Cogburn, a US marshall, to hunt down the man and she intends on going along.

Another film, of the same name, was made in 1969 with John Wayne but is so incredibly different than the book that it is hard to compare. The 1969 version was more about Rooster rather than Mattie, since John Wayne was so popular at the time.
The Coen brothers were true to the book, and made the story all about Mattie. It is narrated by her adult self, and begins with her fathers death. Mattie is spunky and smart, maybe too smart. She is the epitome of tough young women and I really think this would be a great film for girls entering their teenage years to see. (It is only rated PG-13) The film is full of exciting twists, and lots of black comedy the Coen brothers are known for.
Not just that, but the style of the film is very 1960s western. It has good pacing, interesting dialog and the production design is impeccable. You know we're going to see it again while it's still in the theaters. Have you seen Ture Grit yet? What did you think? I'd love to know what other people thought of it!

xo,

Beca

PS, don't forget about our giveaway of friendship bows. You can click HERE to learn more or visit the tab at the top of the page.

Migraines and Six Feet Under Saturday!!

I have had the gnarliest migraine all day today. That means that I spent most of the day curled up on the couch, throwing up, and being grumpy. The plus side is that I got to watch movies and Six Feet Under. We watched "Moon" this morning while we ate pumpkin pancakes for a late breakfast. It was very intense. That was before my headache got bad, but if I get a migraine, it always gets way worse after I eat. Then started our Six Feet Under marathon. We're starting over because Doug hasn't seen any of it. I used to be hooked. It's such a good show. We ordered pizza and since I haven't changed out of my pajamas today, I have no intentions of leaving the couch until bedtime!

Pumpkin patch and twin party tomorrow morning!!!
xo!